The rebellion worlds present a real challenge to a Creator Son, in almost every conceivable way. We are taught that Creator Sons must earn their universe, must earn sovereignty, and one of the ways they do this by living in the universe of their own creation and as a creature of their own devising. One has to admire this policy. A Creator that creates a universe and expects all these beings to prosper in it might, technically, have unrealistic notions about the reality that he has created. Had he not personally experienced such things he could well have been exposed to the angsty teenager’s cry: you don’t know my life! But, through the life of Jesus, we know our Creator is most definitely intimately acquainted with our various struggles and the hardships we face.

It is not a coincidence that Michael chose a rebellion planet for his final bestowal. Almost every other planet in his universe is running as it should be. We’re talking approximately 9,999,950 planets, all behaving pretty much as they should [not that all these worlds have been created yet, but we can be pretty confident that the Michael’s performance has ended the appetite for such intoxicating delusions in the future]. Given the normal sequence of events Michael could have opted for a world progressing along more ideal lines. However, if he did he might have been exposed to an accusation that he was a coward who was afraid of attempting life on the worlds that were in chaos. After all, if he is going to allow worlds to be turned upside down by sin then shouldn’t he know what it feels like to try to live on such worlds? Shouldn’t he know firsthand how difficult it is to believe under such circumstances? Indeed, one thinks of the story of Job and how Satan scoffed: “It’s easy believe when everything is going well. But let’s see how much of a believer he is when all joy turns to dust?”

Technically, Michaels are free to incarnate on any world of their choosing and – undoubtedly – it would be just as perfect, but in the back of peoples’ minds, especially the minds of those that hail from rebellion planets, would be: those worlds are easy. Show us what you’ve really got. Try incarnating in a cosmic war zone! One in which the wicked appear to prosper and the poor of the world are victims of endless injustice. Let’s see you be sweet when you’re on the receiving end of cruelty and injustice. Instead of incarnating on a world where you are welcomed as a God-King, on which whole nations bend their knee eager and honored to carry out your bidding, let’s see you endure poverty and turn the other cheek when the ignorant, powerful, and cruel spit in your face. It easy dole out righteous edicts from your Ivory Tower in Salvington, but try to live by them on “real” worlds – then we’ll see what you’re really made of – then we’ll see if those ideals are genuinely capable of creating a better world.

Many readers may not have realized but when Michael incarnated on our world as Jesus he became an Agondonter. No doubt, after his sublime portrayal of God and Man not only did he forever silence any secret doubters and scoffers, every Mansonia Agondonter bent the knee and voluntarily worshipped him and glorified God that His Son had the courage to become one of them. That he did not flinch from suffering for righteousness sake. Jesus is the God and brother of Agondonters and that is one cool accolade.

The writers tell us that there is a strong salvation element to a Creator Son’s bestowal incarnations. Wherever chaos erupts they dare to rush in and endeavor to retrieve wayward systems and sons. I suspect that all Creator Sons volunteer to incarnate on the most backward of spheres for a wide variety of reasons. The darkness of a sin tossed world is profound but this offers an excellent backdrop against which to contrast the light of divine love. Indeed, it makes it all the more startling to witness it – the living light of love is the ultimate act of defiance in a world engulfed in spiritual darkness. Selfless loving devotion to one’s fellows, family, and country is one of the truest expressions of sincere worship and gratitude and is undoubtedly why the forces of darkness seek to extinguish this light.

However, we should take heart, there is no depth of darkness so great that the Father would not plunge in head first that he might save a child lost in it. The God of Light is not afraid of the dark, nor should the children of light be discouraged and fearful because the night has descended for a time. Fear not, believe only, the dawn of a new and better day will soon be breaking. Indeed, the light revealed in the life of Jesus can never be extinguished and he will tend to this flame until the whole world is ablaze with it, even now he is building tinder.

It is a rather peculiar that Lucifer was designated as number 37 of his order, 53:0.1, and that in the rebellion he instituted 37 Planetary Princes joined him, 53:7.1. We are taught that his rebellion was the most widespread of all those instigated by the Primary Lanonandeks, of which there were three. If we were to apply the Pareto Principle and presume that the planets lost to the Lucifer rebellion were 80% of all those lost, that would suggest that the other three comprised 20% of the total. We could round these numbers up to an even fifty. So, that means, out of [a potential] ten million inhabited planets only 50 are rebellion tested. This would suggest that of all the planets in a Local System only 0.000005% produce Agondonters.

It is believed that our universe has had so much trouble with Lanonandek’s because our Michael has endowed them with ‘such a large degree of personal liberty.’ 35:9:8 (393.8) This would suggest that other Local Universes probably have considerably less than 0.000005%. This would place our planet in an exceptionally unique position in universe affairs: not only has it suffered rebellion worse compounded by Adamic defaults, but our Creator Son chose this sphere as his Nativity Sphere. It’s hard to appreciate the significance of all these things from within.

A close reading of the text divulges the apparent profound innocence of the celestial orders. For the angelic orders, used to countless eons of evolving stability and order, rebellion is profoundly unsettling – unimaginably so. 99.999% would never have encountered anything like this. They would never have been called upon to go against a superior 53:3.1. Never have experienced desertion by celestial brethren and absolutely never could have even dreamed a scenario so horrific as their own celestial brethren contriving to actually murder them 53:6.3! The vast majority of celestials would never have been tested like this. Nor would there be many tales to fall back on. Indeed, with so much good to contemplate and accomplish one imagines that few of the angelic orders would give serious thought to the root causes and consequent ravages of rebellion; terrible events taking place in faraway places with strange sounding names.

This specialness is worth considering: rebellion planets offer incredibly unique opportunities for genuinely testing divine values, for proving the many claims made by divine and superior beings. For example, it is claimed [118:1.2] that the fusion experience and its correlated mansion world ascension experience signals that the indwelt personality has made the final and irrevocable choice to do the Father’s will and so has forged its everlasting destiny. This is all well, but, given the relative uniformity of the morontia career there is certainly room for speculation as to whether that claim would hold true in less than ideal situations, like say during times of rebellion. However, when the test came it was proven to be true 53:7.12.

There is profound consolation in this assertion. The divines may have claimed this to be true but the universes have tested this claim and validated it. This testing gives the universe even greater stability and ascenders greater confidence. In a sense, such experiences rid a young universe of its ‘puppy fat’. One imagines that allowing rebellion is an essential part of the process of making universes stronger; much as certain childhood illnesses appear to play a role in the permanent elimination of hidden toxins.

The teachings tell us that the angelic orders, unlike mortals, are subject to an incredibly long testing: age upon age, world upon world, system upon system – on and on and on it goes with no let up, while our destinies are settled in a relatively short amount of time. Reading the Urantia Book you can see how there might be some substance to the myths of angels being jealous of mortals. Not only is our fate sealed fairly quickly, our post-Paradise careers range the universe of universes and even on into the exploration of the Master Universe [though this comes with its own cost], while such a destiny is open to apparently few of the angelic orders. One can see how Lucifer might be able to curry resentment and foment rebellion from such seemingly unfair structural arrangements.

I am often asked about the level of sin on this world and how difficult it is to believe under such circumstances. The UB talks about the testing of the virtues and how this necessitates confronting realities that are less than ideal. It would seem on most worlds these challenges are never too extreme, or at least the native beings are blessed with material natures more equal to the challenges, but on rebellion planets the divines are really asked to put their money where their mouth is. People are not risking merely their lives but their very souls. On this world Jesus didn’t just talk about love, he loved imperfect creatures. He didn’t just talk about forgiveness, he forgave those that literally crucified him. He was beaten, and spat upon, had his beard pulled, and every sort of indignity heaped upon his blessed and unresisting head and in the midst of all this foul treatment he displayed the unsettling majesty of a man consecrated to doing the will of the Father.

The Hosts of Heaven stared agog at this mystical and bewildering spectacle of co-mingled human wickedness and divine triumph. We can never appreciate the true impact this life had upon the celestial hosts, at least not this side of the grave.

Lucifer challenged the gods to show themselves and the response of Jesus was a display of divine love such as had never been seen in this universe before. That display ended the rebellion in all the sincere of heart who witnessed it. And today, even throughout all future time, this divine human spectacle will bring peace, hope, strength and salvation to all whom by faith witness this tremendous work and consecrate themselves to carrying it on.

The rebellion papers have long fascinated me. When I think of the carnage on my world, the pain, the horror, the abuse I want to lay the bill for all this suffering at the feet of Lucifer. I have often wondered if we’d be allow to visit the world of the Father and gaze upon the rebels, as one might caged animals. I’d be very interested in seeing the face of the one who “led the worlds astray,” and who “drew down a third of the stars of Heaven.” There are a great many lessons to be drawn from this episode, and it is far from over yet.

One thing we are taught is that rebellion planets are very special, and give birth to a unique class: the Agondonters. It is easy believe in God when everything is going well and things seems to fall almost effortlessly into your lap, but it is an altogether different thing to maintain faith when the spiritual order on a planet seems to be in reverse: a world in which the wicked prosper and the righteous are crushed. In such spiritual darkness it is easy get confused and lose one’s way, to entertain, and even get lost in, spiritual doubt.

Even the authors admit that when looking upon the universe of Havona it would be reasonable to conclude that it was created and is maintained by infinitely perfect beings. However, when confronted by the endless calamities and sufferings on worlds such as ours, it might be equally reasonable to conclude that our universe was not created and managed by all wise, all powerful, and all loving beings. Under these circumstances, it is a supreme challenge to pierce the veil of delusion generated by the apparent endless suffering, confusion, and chaos and, by faith, perceive the sustaining life giving light of the Eternal God of Everlasting Perfection who is its ultimate source and who is the architect of its final destiny – the recognition of whom compels the soul to cry: “My vindicator lives!”

We are taught that there is more rejoicing among the angels over one sinner that repents than of ninety nine that have no need of repentance, and the ‘righteous’ might be understandably aggrieved that their obedience and faithfulness is not greeted with similar delight, much as the older brother in the parable of the Prodigal Son. But the return and redemption of the wayward son undoubtedly reflects the return and redemption of the wayward planets.

No doubt, there might be some cosmic resentment that such lengths have been undertaken to save the fallen planets – hard to believe though. Satania’s isolation from universe circuits is apparently a source of embarrassment. Quarantine creates a stigma, even among the heavens. In a sense, the Fallen Worlds represent the Wrong Side of the Cosmic Tracks. Things are loose and dangerous there. The values that prosper on such worlds are not such as would be acceptable among the politer society of the more illumined spheres. The survivors of those worlds have tattoos, smoke cigars, and drive motorcycles. Their accent of mind is not like the others and there is a rawness to the way they speak of God and relate to things divine that is a tad unsettling for the decent folk of the Universe.

Their love for the Father was forged in darkness and cruelty, with a minimum of guidance and support. When they speak of the Father and salvation it is with a force and eloquence seldom heard even among the angelic orders. Their love is fierce, their faith invincible, their courage sublime, their loyalty beyond question, their service inspiring. It is that way because it had to be. Nothing less would have enabled them to survive and thrive on isolated and sin darkened spheres. The spiritual fruit borne on such worlds is sweet but carries dark undertones of bitterness, and it is a rare vintage.

When such worlds are finally returned to the Father’s fold there is an understandable, sublime and divine ecstasy among the heavenly hosts that have for countless eons been consecrated to its redemption and restoration. Against the odds, a lost one has been found and returned safely, there to recommence its destiny of divinity attainment. It could have perished but it didn’t. It’s hard to imagine anything more worthy of celebration.

Among the brotherhood of divine worlds, the redemption of a wayward planet may well be viewed like the redemption of captured brethren. Our unseen celestial overseers fight for our glory. They know our divine heritage. They are jealous for us. They undoubtedly weep for our sufferings. Their hands wring with frustration for all we’ve been deprived of. They yearn without ceasing to bring us home, to establish us in peace, to nurture in us the habits of the life divine which are righteousness and joy in the truth.

We find ourselves in the Information Age, in which there is a preponderance of data but a veritable famine of wisdom. Each age has its various modalities, often marked off by weaponry and/or technology. In the Information Age the weapon of choice is information. Noam Chomsky once said that: “what violence is to a dictatorship, propaganda is to a democracy” - it is a means used by the few to achieve specific desires, goals, and ambitions. It is a weapon used to control perception, construct narratives, to frame discourse with the aim being to persuade, to convince.

The Urantia Book gives an interesting analysis of the evolution of prayer and magic, of white magic and black magic. They point out that “There was both a public and a private phase to magic. That performed by the medicine man, shaman, or priest was supposed to be for the good of the whole tribe. Witches, sorcerers, and wizards dispensed private magic, personal and selfish magic which was employed as a coercive method of bringing evil on one's enemies.”[88:6.2]

This distinction between the Public and Private Sphere is key.

Once evil plans are made public they are quickly destroyed. Once information about the unsavory machinations, nefarious designs, and the intentions of the wicked make it to the Public Square their cards are marked and their plans are soon brought to naught. The Common Man has a sense of fairness, and when it becomes apparent that a small minority are working to the detriment of the whole tribe that wicked minority become the focal point of the vengeance of the whole tribe. Consequently, the wicked have always had a vested interest in perception management. They cannot allow their plans to see the ‘light of day’ because they know if Joe Public becomes aware of them the jig would be up.

The sanitizing nature of the public square is akin to a sort of immune system, and teaches us that the longer issues remain hidden and undetected the greater the damage they can do. It struck me about how the divines manage the Public Square, for them the sooner issues are exposed the quicker they can be dealt with. Jesus has no fear of truth. Indeed, he taught that the recognition of truth would make us free and admonished his followers to: "be patient; the truth never suffers from honest examination.”153:2.11

These reflections illuminate the spiritual wisdom of this passage: “The Divine Minister of Salvington issued as her third independent proclamation a mandate directing that nothing be done to half cure, cowardly suppress, or otherwise hide the hideous visage of rebels and rebellion. The angelic hosts were directed to work for full disclosure and unlimited opportunity for sin-expression as the quickest technique of achieving the perfect and final cure of the plague of evil and sin.”54:5.11

We are taught that: “Lucifer was permitted fully to establish and thoroughly to organize his rebel government before Gabriel made any effort to contest the right of secession or to counterwork the rebel propaganda” 53:4.7 and that “He was given a free hand to prosecute his seductive plan without let or hindrance.” 53:4.4

Thinking about all this, I reflected on the present drive to get Hate Speech Legislation installed in every country all over the worlds as quickly as is humanly possible. Such legislation is no more about protecting people than Lucifer’s Manifesto was about liberating men and angels. This attempt to install a top down control of the ‘market of ideas’ is no less insane than the attempt to run an economy from the top down. It is the decentralized nature of the market that is the source of its power and success. Lucifer’s attempt to inflict his vision of reality on a universe brought neither freedom nor happiness, only bondage and misery – exactly as Communists throughout the ages have inflicted utopian delusions on their delusion hungry followers.

Isn’t it interesting that these visionaries always present themselves as saviors, liberators, and defenders of the vulnerable when the truth is the exact opposite: they are the destroyers, enslavers, and predators of the vulnerable? What I find bizarre is that so few appear to recognize this truth.

Hate Speech legislation savors not of the ways of the Kingdom. If the divine administrators of a universe are willing to suffer even the blasphemous utterances of the Iniquitous One, how can we be upset over jokes and tweets? Hate Speech Legislation savors more of the spirit of the Adversary than of the Kingdom.

Jesus dared speak truth to power, to shine a light on the truth that would ultimately dethrone the corrupt. Jesus didn’t ask to be spared being exposed to wicked sophistries of the Dragon. He met them head on and defeated every one of them through humble submission to the will of the Paradise Father. Isn’t it peculiar that the Communists want to silence his followers? Imprison, torture, and destroy the lives of those that would dare to highlight the practices of the corrupt and exalt the world to righteousness? Jesus felt no need to control the narrative. He knew the truth could not be extinguished by lies and deception, no more than the greater can be destroyed by the lesser, the substance undone by its own shadow.

In the beginning was the Word, the perfect expression of God without restraint. There was nobody waiting in the wings to come in a say: “No, sorry. That’s not acceptable.” Nor is the Father inclined to restrain the voices of his children, not even the voice of Lucifer. Indeed, I fondly recall the story of Jesus coming into Jerusalem being hailed uproariously by the Passover crowds and the Jewish leaders exhorting him that he should silence the tumult. To which he responded, “It would be useless to stop them lest in their stead these stones by the roadside cry out.” 172:3.13.

Freedom of speech is a sacred value of the kingdom. It is the light through which the virtues of the better way can be revealed and established. Better worlds are worlds in which justice more abundantly abounds. Every step forwards towards the establishment of greater and greater justice means an equal diminishing and elimination of injustice. However, the current status quo benefits certain corrupt ones. Consequently, the corrupt have an interest in keeping things as they are or making them worse. They are highly motivated to silence those who would dare to throw light on their nefarious schemes. They literally persecute the righteous. They silence them, castigate them, imprison and torture them. And because they are cowards who know that no decent person would countenance such evil [and the majority of people are decent] they have to carry out their actions in secret. They must resort to the machinations of the “witches, wizards, and sorcerers” because their designs are harmful to the public interests.

And so, there it is, the Public Square is where free speech matters most and is the one place that nefarious forces of darkness are most eager to get control of. Isn’t it fascinating that rebellion was made possible because of free speech and that, in the end, free speech coupled with truth recognition will be instrumental to ending it, and establishing us fully and finally on the Better Way?